Gaza war rages as Hamas studies truce proposal

AFP | Gaza                                       

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Israel bombed targets in Gaza yesterday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted the army would destroy Hamas despite ongoing Cairo talks towards a ceasefire and hostage deal.

More than six months into the war, Hamas said it was “studying” a new proposal for a temporary truce, submitted during the talks with US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators.

Under the plan, fighting would stop for six weeks, about 40 women and child hostages would be exchanged for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and up to 500 aid trucks would enter Gaza per day, a Hamas source said.

Hamas said it “appreciates” the mediators’ latest efforts but accused Israel of failing to respond to its demands including a full withdrawal of forces from Gaza.

Netanyahu stressed -- despite growing pressure from top ally the United States -- that Israel would pursue the twin goals of bringing home “all our hostages” and destroying Hamas after its October 7 attack.

In a video message Monday, the premier said Israeli forces would storm Gaza’s far-southern city of Rafah on the Egyptian border, despite global concern for the fate of around 1.5 million Palestinians sheltering there.

“This victory requires entry into Rafah and the elimination of the terrorist battalions there,” Netanyahu said. “It will happen -- there is a date,” he vowed without saying when he plans to send troops into the last city in Gaza yet to face a ground invasion.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israel had not shared with Washington “any date for an operation” in Rafah.

Netanyahu reiterated that message yesterday during a visit to a military base, saying: “No force in the world will stop us.” US officials renewed their objections to a Rafah operation, following a phone call last week between President Joe Biden and Netanyahu.

“We have made clear to Israel that we think a full-scale military invasion of Rafah would have an enormously harmful effect on those civilians and that it would ultimately hurt Israel’s security,” said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

Israel has invited tenders for 40,000 large tents, according to a document on the defence ministry website -– part of its preparations to evacuate Rafah ahead of an offensive, a government source told AFP on condition of anonymity.